However given the current virus climate you should have cash or access to cash so you can use it as needed for reserves and rainy days.

Call mills and mills aka known as legal shield.

The seller can be shielded from this by doing a one-sided or blind HUD-1 if this is allowed in your state. 

Whatever investment you want to make I strongly believe it would be maximized by using life insurance because it is shielded from lawsuits or bankruptcy.This sounds totally unethical and borderline criminal.

I would hope that methods like brrrr and having 20-25% equity would help shield an investor.

Additional to the "1 property per year", I also make it a goal to shield all of my W2 income with my REI each year. 

Hey Stephanie, if you have never done this before, I would strongly urge you to consult a real estate attorney, because from some past dealings, it isn't just the sales agreement that is important, but all the disclaimers pertaining to abestos, earthquake zone, fire zone, landslide zone, visual inspection forms, smoke detectors etc etc, that shields you from liability and needs to be signed by both buyer and sellers.

Getting laid off during the virus and then being brought on gave me a glimpse into how much happier I'd be just running my own show. 

:@J Scott is correct, but the cost of debt needs to adjusted for the tax shield before you do the comparison, so your comparing net return to net return. 

The point is not that any one thing is impenetrable, but rather to put barriers in front of people.There are ways to shield LLC ownership but for someone small and starting out, not worth the time.